Saturday 7 May: The flights over were uneventful and not too taxing so, on arrival at Rome airport, it was a short taxi ride to the Hotel Tiber in Fiumicino situated right at the mouth of the River Tiber. As we were only staying one night, there was no unpacking to do so we set of to explore and stretch our legs after sitting for so long. Fiumicino is mainly a fishing area with many boats along the river banks and people with rods in wherever they could. There were quite a few restaurants but we did not want to stay up that long so had our...

The cafe associated with our hotel gives us a free breakfast. Whoa. Huge, delicious fruit cup, tasty croissant, oh, cereal with different tasting milk that was so good, yogurt, biscotti with butter and jam and of course coffee. It was amazing. We took the metro to the Duomo cathedral. The outside itself was so incredible and beyond words. We stood for over an hour in a "skip the line" line which wasn't too bad except for the very large school group that swooped in to the front of the line. Anyway it was totally worth the wait to get up to...

On Wednesday we had to tackle the bus system. Even with a map and asking help from a variety of Italians it was a tough way to start the day. But we found Gabriel and 3 other Pennsylvanians for something Bob called "walk like a Roman Day" so many times I can't remember what it's really called. But it was fun! Our guide was a Roman local and he took us on a food walking tour. We sampled fresh fruit from an outside market, margherita pizza, cookies from his favorite bakery, another dessert (Bob help me out here) proisciutto and cheese, and...

Greetings from Rome! We arrived early Monday morning after a sleepless flight to see Rome had less than perfect weather. We had pouring rain and strong winds all day but how bad can it be? We were in Rome! After a slight mishap with the shuttle we ordered we went to our lovely apartment with the delightful host, Francesco. Lunch at Donati's then to the train station to figure out the Metro. Francesco had told us there are only two lines because every time they start digging in Rome they find ancient ruins and have to call in an...

Friday March 30
Arrived by plane in Rome and took a train from the airport to Roma Termini and stayed at a nearby guesthouse. It was a good location for leaving by train for Lecce at 8am the next day. On the positive side the bed was very comfortable but the downside was overheating, non operational air con and fridge, boiling hot water in shower and very poor WiFi. Didn’t do much - just walked up to Republica for dinner. It’s good to be back in Rome. A little rain.
Saturday March 31
Very pleasant fast train to Lecce about 5 1/2 hours...

Hey guys so it has been quite some time since I updated my blog. So first let me start off with how last semester ended. So I passed all my classes, with the exception of the C in anthropology. That teacher was just not a nice guy come time to the end of the class. O well all other classes I got A's and B's, so I will pretend the C does not exist. Now on to break: First and foremost It Was VERY Cold! I should have been used to it due to we lived in Missouri for a little while and dealt with cold but this was a different type of cold. This...

Hey guys so its been a while since i have updated you guys. So I will start at break. For our Fall break Haley and I went home to the States and enjoyed the luxury of a comfy bed and nice hot water. We also got to enjoy the comforting from our puppy Boris. Speaking of this mastiff, guess who received some professional training. Yep he no longer needs to be alpha when we walk, now he is all follower......as long as the family follows the rules of the training session. The guy was super nice and it was a very educational and different style...

Dear Mum,
It’s official. You heard it here first. If there was anywhere else in the world Lauren and I could call home it would be Italy. It didn’t take long at all for us to come to that conclusion this time around. And Kaz, I know you will be more than happy to visit us on a regular basis if we were to move here. Everyone is welcome – accommodation free.
Flying into Rome for both of us this time felt like we were returning home. Arriving at the airport instantly bought memories back from last year when we were meeting Kaz in the arrivals...

We left Traverse City on Thursday October 26, flying from Traverse City to Detroit, and then on to Rome. Jocelyn met us at the TVC airport, and Milda welcomed us at DTW. The two Delta flights were fine; we had paid extra to secure bulkhead seats, which give more legroom and a place to stand up, but nothing can replace a bed to lie down when it comes to bedtime. None of us had much sleep, since it's hard to doze off when the plane is shaking a bit (so you really want to keep your seatbelt fastened securely), and just about the time that you...

Alright well week six was awesome. I had so much fun at the dog show and at the Archeology of Star Wars lecture. Its amazing how archeology can be everywhere. It just depends on what you consider heritage and important. The dog show was amazing. I have never been to a professional dog show before and this was so cool. Talk about puppy overload!!!! There were so many different breeds including labs, goldens, mastiffs, small dogs, they even have a great dane puppy. OMG talk about clumsy. It was so cute. Got lots of cute pics. I think the...

We have both visited Italy on several previous occasions and have seen many of the historical sites. On this visit, we wanted to spend all our time in Rome in order to provide a comprehensive description and photos for our travel blog.
Harman has a very special memory of a visit to Rome in the early seventies when he attended a mass at the Vatican. That was during the time when the Pope was carried by the attendants down the aisle to the podium. Harman was a guest and sitting on the front row by the aisle. When Pope John Paul I, 1978-1978...

Entry by Lois
On October 26, John & I will be taking off to spend three weeks in southern Italy. We'll fly from Traverse City to Detroit, and then on to Rome. Our friends Jocelyn and Milda will be joining us on this adventure. Last winter we decided to register for a Road Scholar hiking trip in Western Sicily, which begins when we meet the group on November 2. Here is a link to a description of that part of our journey:...